the flag of Seychelles (that's SAY-SHELL)

In case you didn't know, you can check the statistics for PetePhillipsOnline by going to petephillipsonline.com/stats. There you'll find an interesting statistic. In one section you can see the addresses of the people who come see the site. See, you can't keep track of who visits the sites, but you can keep track of where they come from. Anyway, you'll see that a number of people--not a large number, but a number nonetheless--of people have come from the United Kingdom. Most of you know I love British people, but few realized that they love me back. Well it's okay, they may not. Maybe they're just "interested." I did interview Freelance Hellraiser and he probably clicked through, along with other DJs from over there like Go Home Productions, IDC, and xFM disc jockey Eddy Temple-Morris. Hey, I'm cool like that. 

I also appear to have a few people in Canada who have stopped by for a peek at the site. This is not surprising, since I do enjoy Kids in the Hall and other stereotypical Canadian things.

You'll go on to notice that a particular visitor came from a place that has the .sc domain name. This intrigued me when my statistics generator qualified it as "Seychelles" (pronounced "Say-shell") I didn't know what it could mean. Was this one of those new Scandinavian countries that was made from the break-up of Russia, which happened too soon after my educational facilities bought new books that were out of date, thus making me unfamiliar with them. I do remember having to memorize Europe for one of the worst classes I ever had, AP European History. That may have had some countries on it, who knows? But back to Seychelles.

So after my intrigue, I Googled the whole she-bang up and found that Seychelles is a little island North East of Madagascar (in the Indian Ocean, off the East Coast of Africa, for those of you as geographically challenged as myself). According to the CIA World Fact Book this island declared joined up with Great Britain in 1814, after a "lengthy struggle between France and Great Britain." It then declared independence in 1976 and adopted the always-effective Socialist rule. A new constitution was adopted in 1993, the year that Pete was in the hospital with knee issues and learning how to walk again. Their last president lasted thirty years, but they just got a new one this year. 

The plight of Seychelles traces back to September 11, 2001. After terrorism ruined the travel industry, Seychelles ran out of money. An island based on tourist income, the economy declined after the events of September 11. Lucky for them, they still have their rich natural resources: fish, copra, and cinnamon trees. The last population estimate, from July 2003, counted 80.5 thousand people in the country with a median age of about 27 years. 

With only one AM and one FM radio station, Seychelles has only 9,000 internet users. This is a mere 11% of the country. Out of that 11%, someone found us. How? Why? We may never know, but if you are from Seychelles, or know someone who is, shoot over an email: pphilli2@kings.edu